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Overview
The Jelling stone ship is a stone ship, the longest known to have existed, the remains of which lie under the two royal barrows at Jelling, Denmark. It was formerly thought to have extended between the two mounds and to have been 170 metres (560 ft) long.
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Article
Jelling stone ship
This length corresponds to 1,200 Roman feet, and the Trelleborg fortresses were also measured out in Roman feet.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Jelling stone shipCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Jelling stone shipCC BY-SA 4.0
Recent archaeological research, and the re-evaluation of large pits on the west side of the north mound that were noted in the 1960s, has led to a different reconstruction, in which the ship had the north mound as its centre rather than its stern and was 354 metres (1,161 ft) long. This length corresponds to 1,200 Roman feet, and the Trelleborg fortresses were also measured out in Roman feet. The triangle of stones under the south mound was previously thought to have enclosed a temple and the runestone to Thyra, but when the base of the south mound was opened in 1992 in connection with work on a road, the lines were found to be slightly curved, and traces of the other end of the ship were then found under the north mound also. One end of the ship is preserved under the southern mound.
DatingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Jelling stone shipCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Jelling stone shipCC BY-SA 4.0
Dendrochronological evidence dates the building up of the north mound and the creation of the new burial chamber within it to 958-59 CE, coinciding with the death of Gorm that winter, and the creation of the south mound to approximately 970. The lichen on the ship stones covered by the south mound suggests that by then they had stood in the open for some 20 to 30 years. If the ship setting was centred on the north mound, however, it post-dates it.
HistorySources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Jelling stone shipCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Jelling stone shipCC BY-SA 4.0
King Harald Bluetooth erected a great mound, the largest burial mound in Denmark, over an existing Bronze Age burial mound at Jelling, and buried in it the remains of his father Gorm the Old. Later, to the south of it, he raised an even higher empty mound, which a runestone raised by Gorm describes as the grave of Harald's mother, Queen Thyra. Between the two mounds Harald placed a larger runestone in memory of both his parents, and the smaller stone now stands beside it. The two stones are now in the churchyard on the south side of Jelling church. Still during the 10th century, Gorm's body was moved from the north mound, which now contains only the grave goods, to a grave under the church.
The runestone to Thyra, whose original position is unknown, may have been associated with the ship, perhaps forming its prow, in which case it would have been part of Gorm's monument to his queen. A stone ship is also associated with a Bronze Age burial mound at Bække, where a runestone was raised by Tue, son of Ravn, to his trutnik Thyra, claiming that Tue raised Thyra's mound. A recent suggestion is that Thyra was married first to Gorm and then to Tue, and that the mounds and ships represent rival claims to her lands on the part of Tue and Harald. This would explain the raising of an empty mound and the prominent runestone between the two Jelling mounds.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Jelling stone shipCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Jelling stone shipCC BY-SA 4.0
The stone ship, or ship setting, was an early burial custom in Scandinavia, northern Germany and the Baltic states, in which a grave or cremation was surrounded by slabs or stones in the outline of a ship. Ships were erected from about 1000 BCE to 1000 CE, and they are often found in grave fields, though sometimes far from any other remains.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Danish stone ship settings
In the Atlas, Denmark has the most stone ship settings. The stone ship, or ship setting, was an early burial custom in Scandinavia, northern Germany and the Baltic states, in which a grave or cremation was surrounded by slabs or stones in the outline of a ship. Ships were erected from about 1000 BCE to 1000 CE, and they are often found in grave fields, though sometimes far from any other remains.
The most famous Danish ship is at Jelling in Jutland, where the remains of the longest stone ship known lie beneath the two royal barrows. It was formerly thought to have extended between the two mounds and to have been 170 metres long. Re-evaluation of large pits on the west side of the north mound, noted in the 1960s, has led to a different reconstruction in which the ship had the north mound at its centre and was 354 metres long, corresponding to 1,200 Roman feet. King Harald Bluetooth raised a great mound over an existing Bronze Age burial mound, the largest burial mound in Denmark, and placed in it his father Gorm the Old; tree-ring evidence dates the building of the north mound and its new burial chamber to 958 to 959 CE, matching Gorm's death that winter, and the south mound to about 970.
At Lindholm Høje, north of Aalborg, a major Viking burial site, the lower southern part dates to 1000 to 1050 CE and the higher northern part to the fifth century CE. The first major excavation began in 1952 and ultimately included 589 of the approximately 700 graves.
When visiting, look at the large stones at the stem and stern, and at how the ship is laid out in relation to the mounds.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Jelling stone ship, Wikipedia: Jelling stones, Wikipedia: Lindholm Høje, Wikipedia: Ship setting · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 59 CE
Dendrochronological evidence dates the building up of the north mound and the creation of the new burial chamber within it to 958–59 CE, coinciding with Gorm's death that winter, and the creation of the south mound to approximately 970. The lichen on the ship stones which were covered by the south mound suggests...
Source - 1992
The triangle of stones under the south mound was previously thought to have enclosed a temple and the runestone to Thyra, but when the base of the south mound was opened in 1992 in connection with work on a road, the lines were found to be slightly curved, and traces of the other end of the ship were then found...
Source
Photographs
5 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
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-2026-09-msu--2089.jpg){kind=link}
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 1000 BCE–1000 CEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for ship settings in Denmark; this site has not been dated itself. The stone ships vary in size and were erected from c. 1000 BCE to 1000 CE.Source for this date
Where it stands
Denmark
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 55°45′24″ N, 9°25′13″ EFor a GPS or map app: 55.75680, 9.42020
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
Thyras Mound3500–500 BCE
Jelling Mounds3500–500 BCE
Gorms Mound3500–500 BCE- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Mangehøje3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Mangehøje3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Mangehøje3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Jellinge3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Faarup3500–500 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
3 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q6176854wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
- 03Wikipedia: Jelling stone shipen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Jelling, view from the northern mound-2, July 2015.jpgSzilasCC0
- Stone Ship Jelling(dk)-2026-09-msu--2210.jpgMatthias SüßenCC BY-SA 4.0
- StoneShip Jelling(dk)-2026-09-msu--2089.jpgMatthias SüßenCC BY-SA 4.0
- View from the southern mound of Jelling, July 2015.jpgSzilasCC0
- Jelling skibssætning.jpgHjartCC BY-SA 4.0
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Around this place
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Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Jelling stone ship" (English), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors
- Wikipedia (English): Jelling stone shipCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q6176854CC0